Paul O'Connell: "Excellent" to have Bundee Aki back in Ireland camp

Aki rejoined the group this week, along with Leinster duo Robbie Henshaw and Tommy O'Brien who return from injury. Ireland coach Paul O'Connell is delighted to see the powerhouse centre back in the mix, and gave the latest updates from how Aki is settling back onto the training pitch.

"It's great. He's a brilliant personality to have around the place. He trained quite well today and it just adds to the group. It's great to have that leadership, that kind of personality around the place, helping guys, talking to guys. He trained with the bibs today, so he was good with them. Yeah, so it's excellent to have him back in."

Whilst O'Connell was excited to see the likes of Aki, Henshaw and O'Brien return to the fray, the Ireland squad had to part ways with the side-lined James Lowe. The Leinster man suffered a groin injury, in the third round trip to Twickenham, as Tommy O'Brien replaced Lowe after just 18 minutes at Allianz Stadium.

"For sure. He's great fun around the place. Big personality. He is a loss around the place. I suppose Bundee's replaced him and we've had Robbie [Henshaw] in as well, training this week. It's been great to have the two of them in, but it is what it is. It just gives an opportunity for someone else now to step up.

"That's part and parcel of the game. It's unfortunate for him. I'd love to have seen him in the last few weeks, but as I said, it's part and parcel of the game."

Ireland take on Wales this Friday night, as the 2026 Guinness Men's Six Nations roars back into life after a fallow week away from the action. A win over Wales will set up a Triple Crown decider with Scotland to close out Ireland's campaign, as both Andy Farrell and Gregor Townsend's men have collected wins over England already. However, O'Connell shared how his side are not yet thinking about the silverware, that they could well be fighting for come 'Super Saturday'.

"No [not thinking about the Triple Crown], just the next game. I think particularly after a good result against England, you just want to focus on the next game and the next thing, and even the next training session really is what the lads were talking about. We just trained there and that was the main focus, so it was a big D-day for us.

"It's only about getting better from the last performance, even though it was a good result. There's plenty of things we have to improve on and that's been the sole focus. We haven't discussed trophies or silverware or anything like that. We might. I think we always come into a campaign trying to win it and we don't shy away from it.

"I'm sure Andy [Farrell] has a meeting tomorrow, he might mention it, I don't know. Really, the focus for us as coaches and players has just been about getting set for the Welsh game."

With two wins on the bounce getting Ireland back to winning form in the Six Nations, O'Connell was asked whether the latest fallow week came at a good time for his side. The men in green rode a tidal wave of momentum out of Twickenham, and O'Connell is eager to see his side maintain this force ahead of taking on Wales this Friday.

"Three weeks in a row is quite tough on the players." O'Connell said. "Physically, it's quite tough, but also mentally it's quite tough. They're all big weeks. They're international weeks. There's a lot of media surrounding the games. The players, obviously, it's important. The game is big for them.

"We obviously had a tough day against France and there's a bit of mental tiredness that comes from that. I was glad of it [fallow week] anyway. We trained really well last week. Those fallow weeks, sometimes you're trying to strike the right note. You're reviewing a game, but you don't have a game that weekend.

Most of the time, you get to Friday, you have to convince yourself you're not tired. You're trying to allow the players to feel a little bit tired. Training was a bit more fun, but we got a load of things in place as well for the Welsh game.

"Then they got a weekend off, a weekend to spend at home with their families. Quite a lot of the lads have kids. There's a lot of newborns around the place. It was a good week for us. I liked that it's three games and two games, but I wouldn't like if it was five weeks in a row. It was a good week for us."

O'Connell expressed how he does not think that this Ireland team have to worry about getting back to an 'emotional peak', after experiencing the incredible catharsis of a record-setting 42-21 win over England.

"I think your emotion doesn't play as big a role as it used to with the team. I would say it's the icing on the cake now, it's not the whole cake and it can look different at times. Sometimes things go your way with referee calls or mistakes the opposition might make, and it looks like you've gotten the emotion right because the game is going your way.

"I think it's something that the players are generally very good at in terms of how they prepare to play for Ireland. We want them to be emotional, but we want them to be calm as well and and they manage that really well. I think the week off was good for us, probably came at a good time, three weeks in after a win, it gives you a chance to reflect as you head into the next game.

"So with the group that'll play this weekend, I think they will be very hungry to produce a similar and better performance. The emotion or the worry about emotion isn't something that would have crossed my mind this weekend. For us it's just about getting better, I think that's what the excitement is for us as coaches and that's what the excitement is for players. If you're focused on getting better and not so much the emotional occasion, I think it's easier to prepare well."